Authorities and public bodies must show they have fulfilled this duty. Where their activities outside National Parks might have an impact inside them, the Government says they should cooperate across national park boundaries.

7.19 Where there are conflicting desired outcomes in achieving national park purposes, greater priority must be given to the conservation of the natural beauty, wildlife and cultural heritage of the area, even at the cost of some socio-economic benefits. This is known as the Sandford Principle and remains a key tool in managing irreconcilable conflicts in the National Park. Nevertheless, this Core Strategy aims to find ‘win-win’ solutions which are socially inclusive, address the needs of our communities, and conserve and enhance the National Park’s valued characteristics. For example, the Authority needs to plan carefully to mitigate and adapt to climate change, which means enabling development of an appropriate scale that is sustainable, accessible and inclusive, without compromising the landscape.

7.20 The National Park Authority aims to support exemplary sustainable development. For the National Park, in many cases, the Authority will be justified in requiring developers to go that bit further in order to achieve sustainable development and conserve and enhance the National Park. This could include, for example, building with local materials in the vernacular tradition, sharing telecommunications masts, buying homes for local need rather than building new, undergrounding electricity cables, working towards the gradual reduction of mineral activity, using sustainable urban drainage, conserving and enhancing the ecological interest of sites, carrying out archaeological surveys, and fully justifying the need for new development.

7.21 Development should take account of the following policy considerations:

- Mitigating and adapting to climate change (chapters 7, 8, 11 and 15);
- Delivering high quality design respecting local distinctiveness (chapters 7, 8, 9 and 11);
- Fostering access to services and facilities by locating development according to the objectives of the spatial strategy (chapters 8 and 15);
- Encouraging social integration in an inclusive environment that considers people’s diverse needs regardless of age, gender or disability (chapters 7, 8, 10, 12 and 15);
- Encouraging good health, safety and well-being (chapters 7, 8 and 10);
- Supporting appropriate economic development (chapters 8, 12 and 13);
- Championing environmental quality (chapters 7, 8, 9 and 11);
- Seeking development of an appropriate scale (all chapters);
- Addressing the local needs of the National Park’s communities (chapters 7, 8 and 12);
- Considering the needs of future generations (all chapters);
- Achieving ‘win-win’ solutions (all chapters).

| GSP1: Securing national park purposes and sustainable development | |---------------------------------------------------------------| | A. All policies must be read in combination. | | B. All development shall be consistent with the National Park’s legal purposes and duty. | | C. Where there is an irreconcilable conflict between the statutory purposes, the Sandford Principle will be applied and the conservation and enhancement of the National Park will be given priority. | D. Where national park purposes can be secured, opportunities must be taken to contribute to the sustainable development of the area.

E. In securing national park purposes major development should not take place within the Peak District National Park other than in exceptional circumstances. Major development will only be permitted following rigorous consideration of the criteria in national policy.

F. Where a proposal for major development can demonstrate a significant net benefit to the National Park, every effort to mitigate potential localised harm and compensate for any residual harm to the area’s valued characteristics would be expected to be secured.

Achieving enhancement of the National Park

7.22 To achieve enhancement of the National Park it is necessary to maintain an ongoing commitment to intensify as well as conserve the area’s valued characteristics. The spatial portrait highlights the need for enhancement, to mitigate the deterioration of the landscape and other valued characteristics. Enhancement should always be related closely to purposes and valued characteristics. Other benefits of a socio-economic nature are dealt with in policies such as those for homes and communities or for the economy. From time to time, larger, more complex opportunities for enhancement arise and these may require a site brief that can bring together enhancement and socio-economic opportunities (policies GSP2 and E1 allow for this at E and D respectively).

7.23 The National Park Authority will require a proposal justified on the basis of enhancement to demonstrate that it represents an overall benefit to the natural beauty, and wildlife and cultural heritage of the area. In many cases this must be achieved through the quality of design and sensitivity to the character and appearance of the area in support of other core policies. Occasionally the Authority may choose to accept a scheme by way of exception to some policies in order to achieve a significant overall benefit to the National Park, for example by accepting a new mineral operation in order to reduce the overall extent and impact in other areas.

7.24 It is essential that the standard of design and landscape aspects of new development conserve and enhance the valued characteristics of the National Park. The Authority’s specialist fields of knowledge in landscape, biodiversity and cultural heritage are underpinned by high quality guidance notes and appraisal documents. These will be used to ensure that new development can be achieved with subtlety and care in order to integrate successfully with the valued character and appearance of the area.

7.25 Furthermore, planning powers can provide an effective mechanism to realise other enhancements to the built and natural environment. Development decisions and other tools may allow opportunities to remove or treat undesirable features or buildings, but works must be undertaken in a sympathetic manner so as not to harm other valued characteristics which may exist on or surrounding a site.

7.26 In some cases whilst a development may by its nature create an undesirable impact on neighbouring properties, the use may still provide a valuable function to the community, e.g. an industrial or engineering use. In such cases it may be more desirable to find an alternative site, particularly where this can result in an overall enhancement to the valued characteristics of the area. Policy provides the flexibility to manage the movement of development to more appropriate locations, giving opportunities to enhance an area and achieve a better mix of uses to benefit a community. GSP2: Enhancing the National Park

A. Opportunities for enhancing the valued characteristics of the National Park will be identified and acted upon.

B. Proposals intended to enhance the National Park will need to demonstrate that they offer significant overall benefit to the natural beauty, wildlife and cultural heritage of the area. They should not undermine the achievement of other Core Policies.

C. When development is permitted, a design will be sought that respects the character of the area, and where appropriate, landscaping and planting schemes will be sought that are consistent with local landscape characteristics and their setting, complementing the locality and helping to achieve biodiversity objectives.

D. Opportunities will be taken to enhance the National Park by the treatment or removal of undesirable features or buildings. Work must be undertaken in a manner which conserves the valued characteristics of the site and its surroundings.

E. Development in settlements necessary for the treatment, removal or relocation of non-conforming uses to an acceptable site, or which would enhance the valued characteristics of the National Park will be permitted. In such cases a site brief may be necessary to achieve the best mix of uses to secure the conservation and enhancement of the National Park and the most sustainable outcome for the community.

Development management principles

7.27 In order to achieve the sensitive management of new development it is necessary to establish both principles and finer criteria for judging impacts on valued characteristics. The Development Management Policies Development Plan Document will provide greater detail but this policy sets out principles that need to be taken into account in all cases.

GSP3: Development management principles

All development must conform to the following principles:

Development must respect, conserve and enhance all valued characteristics of the site and buildings that are subject to the development proposal. Particular attention will be paid to:

A. impact on the character and setting of buildings B. scale of development appropriate to the character and appearance of the National Park C. siting, landscaping and building materials D. design in accordance with the National Park Authority Design Guide E. form and intensity of proposed use or activity F. impact on living conditions of communities G. impact on access and traffic levels H. use of sustainable modes of transport I. use of sustainable building techniques J. ground conditions including any land instability from former mining, quarrying or industrial uses K. adapting to and mitigating the impact of climate change, particularly in respect of carbon emissions, energy and water demand

Securing planning benefits

7.28 National policy recognises that some development may adversely affect some people, and that local planning authorities can use planning conditions or obligations to ameliorate this. Negotiated benefits must be clearly related to the development, and necessary to make it acceptable in planning terms.

7.29 Planning consents commonly make use of conditions and legal agreements about specific matters related to development to provide a wider benefit. In the National Park it would be appropriate to include requirements that aid the implementation of national park purposes, for example to make provision for landscaping, or to develop in such a way that species such as bats are able to make use of the new structure. In pursuing national park purposes it would also be appropriate to use conditions/legal agreements to ensure sustainable development e.g. through design and/or measures to improve energy conservation or renewable energy generation.

7.30 In some instances it may be appropriate to agree benefit for off-site investment that is directly related to national park purposes (such as habitat, cultural heritage and landscape restoration or enhancement), or for specific local community needs (such as affordable housing or a new village hall). This is necessary where benefits are not best accommodated on the site and are most likely to be achievable in the occasional larger-scale scheme allowed in order to secure conservation and enhancement.

7.31 The low rate of development in the National Park is unlikely to result in strategically significant sums of money, but there are general democratic reasons in each County and District why development within the National Park should contribute towards community infrastructure in the same way that development outside will be expected to. This might best and most fairly be dealt with by reflecting any delivery priorities that are advocated by the appropriate District and County Councils, based on consideration of relevant service infrastructure needs in that part of the National Park. They could be set out in a Charging Schedule drawn up by the National Park Authority. This could also describe how the Authority might exempt particular developments such as social housing.

GSP4: Planning conditions and legal agreements

A. To aid the achievement of its spatial outcomes, the National Park Authority will consider the contribution that a development can make directly and/or to its setting, including, where consistent with government guidance, using planning conditions and planning obligations.

B. The National Park Authority's use of broader mechanisms will pay close regard to the advice of County and District Councils and other relevant service and infrastructure providers in each part of the National Park.